"All this stuff about file transfer and terminal emulation might be irrelevant
to you. If you're on the
Net, you've probably got telnet and File Transfer Protocol
(FTP), which pretty well cover this. So
why do we care about Kermit now?

"First, because it does a really, really good job at
file transfer and terminal emulation. If you're
going to telnet into a VMS-based machine, for example, and
want to use the editor or a full-screen
data-entry application, you need a pretty complete
terminal emulator - the telnet that comes with
Windows does a lousy job of pretending to be a VT-100
terminal.

"As for a file transfer, if you've got Kermit on both
ends, you can transfer file protections even
between unlike systems. That is, if you're copying
something that the whole world has read access to
from a UNIX system, the protection it'll end up with on a
VMS system is the same. Kermit is also
willing to transfer entire directory trees and keep the
hierarchy intact, again, even between unlike
systems, which not all FTP clients and servers can do. It
doesn't even require that the transfer be
over a serial line; Kermit's smart enough to make a
connection over TCP/IP and run the same way.

"Second, it does a lot more than file transfer and
terminal emulation. There is a very sophisticated,
built-in scripting language that combines with the other
capabilities to allow you to do a variety of
things..."

Several months ago, I had purchased the
e-academy K95 package and
installed that on [my wife's] laptop. That has worked so well for all the
multi-megabyte PDF scans out of books and everything else she needed me to
send her these last few months as she finished her paper. Her dialup
seems OK most of the time, but has a habit of dropping TCP connections
carrying HTTP, EMAIL, FTP, and SSH after about a meg or so. Kermit on the
other hand just kept on cranking. I was able to push a 16MB anti-virus
update to her PC in 45 minutes once after her PC suffered one of those
"accidents" on the web.

Returning to the office in the evening, I switched on the machine and
attempted exactly the same installation procedure once more. And now
it worked. So I just guess there must have been some problem related
to Windows' memory handling. (I may be a little prejudiced against
Windows after suffering through several earlier versions.)
Now the new version works excellently on my Windows 2000 office
machine as well as on my Widows XP laptop. ...
Anyway, thanks for a great program! I have been using Kermit since I
got my first DEC Rainbow in 1987, and still run many of the old
scripts from those days. I really do appreciate its flexibility and
backwards compatibility --- just like Don Knuth's TeX.

Yes, you are right. Mapchan it was, used to enter the accented characters
from the dumb terminals, which are not in use any more. So it's easy to go
around using Kermit translation capabilities. Thank you!

I have been using the Kermit user almost 10 years now, mostly to access Unix
or Linux applications from MS DOS, OS/2 or Windows. From all the workstation
platforms it was possible to use the same scripts to open the terminal
sessions. This alone was a big benefit, but there is much more - the same
user-friendly file transfer capabilities to import or export data to or from
the Unix application on all the workstation platforms would be extremely hard
(if not impossible) to replace. As accented characters are used in Estonian,
there were different keymaps needed sometimes, depending on the Windows setup.
Thanks to the "show key" command, creating a new keymap file never created any
problems or took much time.

About the latest developments. Have found no real benefit for me in the GUI
version, but the added encryption capabilities were a real blessing. Moving
from telnet to ssh was incredibly easy, especially when compared to my
former unsuccessful experiments with Putty. Thank you.

I use C-kermit and K-95 on my systems running OS/2, Win2K, Win98, and Linux
and have nothing but the best function and success with them! BUT -
there's more! The more I use your Kermit(s), the more I use them! I keep
learning new things I can do with communications between/among all these
systems with Kermit, and I've about gotten to the point that I do everything
I can with C-Kermit and/or K95 ..

With the latest kermit having ssh support, I find kermit transfers far and
away the most convenient way to get files over a "multi hop" ssh connection
(which is very common with data centers often having firewalls you can ssh
into only so you can ssh from there to another machine).

This is to let you know that our engineering staff here at Wisconsin Public
Television is pleased with how the Kermit 95 software is working. It is
being used for equipment automation to bring our audience Public Television
programming, including Sesame Street and, of course Kermit the frog. Thanks
again for a great, flexible product.

K95 V2.0 Is WONDERFUL !!! Frank and the boys (and girls) keep up the good
work. And a free upgrade from V1.x ... FREE !!!!! When was the last time
Bill Inc. gave you anything free (other than a virus).

Kermit has saved my butt so many times. My wildest Kermit story is
bootstrapping Kermit to a MicroVAX in Brazil and then downloading many MB's of
our corporate apps to the chagrin of those who said it couldn't be done !!

Thanks again for a great program and all the support over all the years.

The newest incarnation of the Kermit terminal emulation and communications
software adds a GUI version for Windows and excellent support for SSH and
FTP.

The GUI terminal was a necessity in order to avoid the buggyness of the
Windows 9x support for text-mode applications. No more lost cursor, the font
support is better, and, at least in my computer, Kermit starts up quicker
too.

The support for FTP means that you can now (finally) create fully scripted
FTP file transfer applications without having to resort to hacks or to a
full-blown programming language. By the way, Kermit supports secure
(encrypted) FTP connections by default.

The support for SSH is also a necessity, if you log in over insecure
networks or the Internet. Kermit incorporates the OpenSSH code, so you can
rest assured that it's complete, follows the standard, and no proprietary
extensions will be in your way when you interact with a diversity of SSH
hosts.

The traditional commandline/scripting language interface is still there (and
with more commands than ever), and you also have new easy access to the GUI
Dialer for setting up and making connections, which makes using Kermit easy
for everyone.

I have been using Kermit for as long as i have using computers, under DOS,
Unix, and now Windows. During all these years, Kermit has always been the
most complete, most solid terminal emulator, modem and network
communications and file transfer product available for any kind of operating
system. This new version keeps the tradition alive. There's no other product
I'd rather use.

The sizing ability is great! The ease at creating a screen size and font
that's comfortable is a dramatic improvement. The overall convenience of
being able to control everything you need in a GUI world was worth the wait.

We are a not-for-profit mental health provider with several
hundred employees spread over 30 locations. Although we don't
cover a terribly large geographic area, our data communications
problems are much the same as any company with multiple locations
interconnected by a WAN.

We use Kermit-95 as a telnet client for accessing our main Unix
server. As a telnet client, Kermit-95 is by far the best solution
I have found. Terminal emulations are very faithful, better than
many programs costing far more than Kermit-95, and far better than
any freeware or shareware programs I have found. Kermit-95's
stability and its low system requirements are also important
benefits to us.

The newest release of Kermit-95 includes SSH support which we are
using to securely access our Unix server over the Internet. Our
previous attempts at secure internet access have either been
expensive or have not worked very well, but Kermit-95 solves all
those problems for us.

I must say that K95 was, for me, the end of a very long and very frustrating
search for a Telnet client on Windows that would NOT cause me to tear my hair
out with anger. It's one of the few Windows programs I feel I can trust.

I feel intense gratitude to people such as those in the Kermit project, who
are the last few around that keep the computer in its place as a TOOL that
obeys my commands, rather than a troublesome, smart-aleck cross between a
video-game and a TV set! God bless all of you! -- I mean it! I can't tell
you how often Kermit (in its various ports) has "saved my life" and rescued
data which everybody else, in the army of point-and-click dummies, thought was
lost forever.

I could give DETAILS of at least five desperate emergencies I've been in at
work for which Kermit (or K95) saved the day -- where everyone else was
totally helpless, because they were using the latest and greatest,
object-oriented, Java-enabled rubbish, point and click, gooey interfaces --
and I walked in, made them buy the CD, and in ten minutes, saved megabytes and
megabytes of data they all gave up on. Whole NETWORKS would go down -- except
for MY machines, which, along serial ribbon cables run along corridors, would
STILL get stuff through!

We have numerous computer systems that locate on five continents. Their
system time should match the GMT, but they seldom do.

I had to develop interface programs for each different computer to read the
GMT of an external GPS(Global Positioning System) via X25, or to
telnet/rlogin to each of these computers and validate their system time. I
had to maintain different versions of the same program on different
computers. To develop and maintain I/O system program is always terrible,
since each computer and its interface channel behaves differently.

A PC with a GPS (Global Positioning System) on board and Kermit95 solves the
tedious task. The GPS provides the GMT time, a K95 script takes this time
stamp and validates the system time of all other computers.

I schedule this script to run weekly to replace me. Now I maintain only a K95
script instead of zig programs in C, FORTRAN & Assembler, an unmeasurable
benefit ratio.

I've just demonstrated another K95 script that visits all our computers and
reports their status: cpu usage, disk space, memory usage, etc. . I use the
alphanumeric pager script on page 454, 455, 456, it works instantly!!!

> Here in comp.os.os2.apps, era@eracc.bizland.com (ERA)> spake unto us, saying:> > >Folks, there are not enough developers developing OS/2 software> >for us to ignore a great product like the current Kermit/2. Buy it!> > On the OS/2 box here I already have licensed copies of ...> > This is perhaps a harsh question, but what does Kermit/2 provide> that I should care about that I didn't get 5-10 years ago in one or> more of those other products?

No, not harsh at all. Determining "what does it do for me" is a very
valid question when considering any new purchase.

> Besides a better kermit implementation. :-)

Better terminal emulation that is so close to the real thing you will not
be able to tell the difference. A linux console emulation that makes it
seem you are sitting at the console even when you are logged in to a
system over a dial-up then out through a tcp/ip connection to the linux
box (all connections using Kermit of course since there are around 900
platforms supported). An SCOansi emulation that also makes it seem you
are sitting at the console of the SCO box.

What do I mean by this? ALL THE KEYS WORK THE WAY YOU EXPECT. Every other
term package I have ever used either didn't have the terminal emulation I
needed, especially console emulation, OR the emulation is/was buggy. ZOC
only advertises the "commonly used emulations (VT52, VT100, VT102, VT220,
ANSI, IBM3270)" and claims they are "solid implementations". Fine. Until
I need to run a program on my SCO box that needs the SCO console
emulation to have the keys work right.

Not only all the above but I can run C-Kermit on every unix
implementation I and my clients use and have a consistent set of tools to
use for communications and file x-fer. The Kermit scripts I develop on my
OS/2 box *also work on the unix boxes*. However, if your needs aren't as
demanding as mine then you probably can stay with all that other stuff.
:-)

I've been using QNX4.23-Kermit 6.0 and Kermit95 for about six months for
dial-up and tcp/ip telnet/rlogin support of several QNX and SunOS base
systems. The Kermit95 QNX/QANSI emulation's are perfect, though a little
slow. Since being involved with QNX the $54 bucks I spent on Kermit95
(Using C-Kermit + K95 books) is the best investment I've made.

NOT an advertisement !!!

Dann
Systems/E&IC Tech.
CSW Corp.

(and later...)

Thanks
for the tip on screen updates, screens are "normal speed" using the fast
setting, great for QNX Vedit text editor.

Again, you have a well developed, easy to use, bug free product that's
made many of my daily task much easier.

I should say that your HFT emulation is displaying flawlessly an [AIX]
application doing a lot of things with colors. Another commercial HFT
emulation I know has a lot of problems with that application.

For years I have been looking for a terminal emulator that works correctly.
I stayed away from Kermit because of negative rumors I heard about it, and
because it wasn't a "commercial" product. Now that I have it I am delighted,
and my search is over.

In a time when Compaq wants $35.00 just to talk to you, Novell wants
$200 and priority tech support numbers often cost more than many
1-900-Hot-Love numbers (don't ask, I just made it up, I don't call...),
Kermit support is an amazing change from the 'new' norm. I can send
an e-mail request and often receive a response within 15 minutes.
Compare this to my latest e-mail question for Netscape News Server that
took 1 month to get answered. Often the people you talk to at support
numbers know less than you, not so at Kermit. I have been impressed to
no end with their support and dedication to their product. If something
does not work, they fix it. Bugs tend to be passing events, not
everyday common occurrences.

Kermit is ultra configurable. Most of my users are public patrons that
have little/no computer experience. Our kermit scripts log them in and
configure the keyboard for 2 different proprietary applications. Kermit
also allows us to 'lock' our users into that one site. Kermit provides a
level of security not found in any other program I've seen. For us,
there is no other option.

I'm just personally impressed with this product and the design team. Some
products I feel are a waste of money, this product is not. This is
money well spent.

Tom Harrington
tomh@lvccld.lib.nv.us
(The opinions expressed are not necessary the views of my employer.
This is a personal opinion.)

I think that Kermit-95 is by far the best comm. program available for
Windows-95. Their support of K95 is really the *best* of any software
company I have ever dealt with. They actually answer their e-mail. They
answer phone calls. They solve your problems. They really do help people.
Clearly, this is the best $54 we've spent for software.

Kermit has by far the best terminal emulation on the market. Their VT
emulation is likely the best around (probably even better than DEC :-)
Is there a wierd emulator you need that kermit doesn't have? Probably not,
but just in case, you can ask them to provide, say, Gorzub emulation, and
they will probably add it in the next release (I mean they have Volker Craig
emulation in there for cryin' out lout!!) And they keep improving their
product, and providing *free* updates and *free* support - try that with
anyone else.

Good work to all the folks who support Kermit for a job well done.
--
Ray Tripamer
ray@asci.com

I'm sitting here right now with my home machine connected to the
Internet via a PPP link to my ISP using the Telnet feature of Kermit
to do shell stuff (elm, trn, ftp, etc) on my ISP.

This is _extremely_ useful, as I can fire up a WWWebBrowser over the
same PPP link if I see an interesting url, without losing access to my
shell tools. I no longer remember how I did without K95!

> Is there any feel for how much of the demand for K95 is for file transfer
> only, how much includes significant use of the terminal emulator for telnet?
>
Most of my K95 use is telnet! I've tried a couple of other telnets at
work, but they worked so poorly (and emulated a VT100 barely if at
all) that I bought VT510 terminals and scattered them about the lab.
I suspect that I'll be buying a dozen copies of K95 when we get the
lab PCs upgraded to Win95.

If you had a Telnet that emulated a VT100 as well as K95, did telnet,
file transfer, and serial communications and serial connection debug
as well as K95 for the same price with the same friendly problem
resolution and developer access I'd _still_ buy K95!
--
Willie Smith wpns@world.std.com N1JBJ@amsat.org
#define NII Information SuperCollider

[ Of Windows 95 Telnet clients . . . ]
Kermit 95 has the best features and performance by far. Perfect emulation
of most VT terminals, and workarounds for common bugs in TERMCAP entries.
Kermit also supports non-SLIP/PPP dialup, which can be really handy.

We have been using KEAterm for the past few years and are generally happy with
it. When we began upgrading our PC systems to Windows 95 we decided to give
Kermit 95 a try. We have been VERY pleased with Kermit 95 both in terms of
performance and features. Given the far lower cost for Kermit 95, the
price/performance ratio favors Kermit 95 very much.

The only two features in KEA that we currently miss in Kermit 95 are true
underline display and a graphic keyboard display for mapping keys. Kermit 95
has a very powerful way to map keys so the loss of the graphic keyboard map is
not all that painful for us. I believe the folks at Columbia will have
underline support in the next release.

My personal favorite feature in Kermit 95 is the ability to have screen sizes
larger than 24 by 80 characters. Having 49 lines on the PC screen is really
nice for reading text. I am not aware that either of the more expensive
products provide this feature.

Kermit 95 provides very nice screen rollback facility. Navigation in the
rollback is easy. Use of the PC mouse is very natural and easy.

We are most pleased with Kermit 95.

Just a satisfied customer,

Don Vickers
vickers@eisner.decus.org

(And on the same newsgroup a few days later...)

A couple of people have been mentioned support from Columbia. I have seen one
positive and one negative comment. I had a few questions and comments on the
Kermit 95 when we purchased it a few months ago. I sent mail to the support
address and received a reply the next day with very good technical pointers.
This resulted in a few exchanges of mail clarifying some of the points. I
received mail from two or three folks at Columbia and each one seemed most
knowledgeable and capable.

The level of support we received on our questions and issues was MOST
professional, fast and effective. The small experience we had with them could
not have been improved and, sadly, is not found in most 'support' organizations
today. I suspect the difference is that Columbia may be taking the old
fashioned approach which is coming back into practice (via BPR) of having the
developers actually involved with the customers.

As a personal note, I was not happy when Columbia changed their business model
on Kermit 95. Kermit was supposed to be free. It has always
been free. This "increase" in price is what caused us to not buy it
immediately. However, when comparing the Kermit 95 price being
significantly less than the commercial packages we decided to actually
pay for it.

My evaluation is that Kermit 95 is a bargain. Kermit 95 is FAR superior to
previous versions and, in my humble opinion, better than the commercial
packages and costing far less.

Don Vickers
vickers@eisner.decus.org

I am a regular reader of and contributor to the newsgroups alt.winsock,
devoted to dial-up networking (SLIP, PPP) on the various Microsoft Windows
platforms, and comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc, devoted to the Windows95
operating system. On these groups there regularly appear articles with
titles such as "Telnet with file transfer?". Well, it's here, and in spades.

Kermit95 is Kermit, yes, Kermit, the communication software used worldwide
and on hundreds, if not thousands, of machine/OS combinations. Kermit95
offers reliable file transfer under the worst of conditions as well as the
best of performance (equal to zmodem) under good conditions. In addition,
Kermit95 has the most robust scripting language, terminal emulation, and
keyboard mapping available in any communications software. And Kermit95's
graphical user interface makes it easier than ever to configure, make, and
manage connections.

Of course, you don't have to be a dial-up networker to take advantage of
Kermit95; it's equally at home on any TCP/IP network connection as well as
a dialed (BBS, for example) connection.

As for the Kermit effort, at Columbia University, ... it never stops. Kermit
software just keeps getting better.

I've used MS-DOS kermit for years because it has always had the most reliable
terminal emulation and file transfer around, and now that I am running Windows
NT, I am overjoyed to have Kermit 95 running under it as a native 32-bit
application.

As someone who frequently uses the EMACS editor over a dialup line, I have
always wanted as much control as possible over my keyboard, and kermit has
always given me far more control over reprogramming individual keys than any
other terminal emulator I have seen, either freeware or commercial.

Tom Horsley
Harris Computers
Fort Lauderdale FL

I have used various flavors of Kermit on many platforms since 1984. I
bought Kermit-95 because it is superior to PCPlus for Windows, in lieu of
a Windows 95 product from them. I have tried some of the shareware
emulators in the past, and didn't like any of them under Windows 3.11.

Kermit-95 allows me to telnet to either a serial connection or via PPP,
something I can't get PCPlus to do, even if I manually made the PPP
connection. PCPlus always wants to open the previously used comm device,
which causes bad things to happen when alternating between a serial
connection and a PPP connection driven on the same port.

As I'm hacking scripts to automate some work at my telephone company, I
realize the disparate systems that I am using, ranging from a 286-running
MSDOS 3.3/MSK-3.14, acting as a 1/2" tape reader/kermit server, through
Win-95/K-95; UnixWare, ESIX, an Octel Voice Mail system, DEX-600 and
Stromberg Telephone switches.

I have tried other comm programs, but!!!

I can prototype and "program" scripts anywhere. I run awk against data sets
on the UNIX boxes to create .tak files that can then be run from either of the
UNIX platforms, or one of the techs can run them from home under MS-DOS Kermit
without modification.

I have been using your product since 1983, with a couple of different
employers. It provided a common user interface for file transfer and terminal
emulation on multiple operating system platforms that I needed desperately.
From DG AOS/VS, DG RDOS, SCO UNIX, DEC VMS, DEC Ultrix, DEC OSF/1, and most
importantly MS-DOS. One thing I have always been able to count on is a
consistent VT100 emulation. There are lots of emulators out there, but they
have their quirks.

These are the things that I like most about Kermit 95:

For the most part, the scripting language is consistent with prior
releases, therefore, we did not have to overhaul the numerous scripts
that we provide to our users for file transfers and daily operations
management.

The scripting language is very powerful. By being creative with
Unix shell scripting in conjunction with the K95 scripting we can
make a workstation do just about anything.

K95.EXE (the back-end) uses very little memory, this allows us more
flexibility with our APSCN Graphical User Interface (front-end) and
multi-session capabilities.

Virtually no user training is required to allow a new user to
begin using our product.

Licensing flexibility. The Right-to-Copy license fits us perfectly, since
we provide all the support to our end users and we can purchase in
bulk to take advantage of quantity discounts.

All of the above items are very important to us, our current plans
are to purchase over the next two years [big-number] licenses for
limited distribution to the districts. The districts may then purchase
additional licenses over their allocated quantity directly from us.
This additional quantity could easily run an additional
[another-big-number] units.

John DavisArkansas Public School Computer Net

I'd like to compliment everyone working on the Kermit Project.
Kermit was the first communications software I used back on my first
PDP-11/20 (I used it to communicate with a PDP-8). I still rely on
Kermit for system support to various computers. Kermit 95 is a much
needed piece of software. In addition to the features I've always
relied on Kermit to provide (scripting, unlimited configuration
capabilities, etc.) now I also have true VT220/VT320 terminal
emulation via Telnet. I've already deleted all the other Telnet
programs I had on my system.

I'm happy you started charging for it. The price is very reasonable
considering Kermit 95's capabilities.

"Information Systems and Technology has come a long way, but many of the main
operating systems (OS) do not provide TELNET features that would make its use
and security implementations more reliable or at least available. Windows NT
4.0 does have a TELNET interface, as show on figure 2.3, which does a great
job, but ever since Windows 95 came out, the comp.os.ms-windows.win95.*
newsgroups have been flooded with requests for a "TELNET server" or "TELNET
daemon" for Windows 95.

"Why? There is a great document at Columbia University's Web site, at URL
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95host.html that discuss this issue and
introduce a great product, KERMIT, that does a great job fulfilling the
Windows 95/NT user community.

"... you can give K-95 the information it needs to place your calls correctly,
no matter where you are. You don't have to use any of these features if you
always make your calls from the same place, but if you travel around with a
laptop, you'll be amazed at the convenience. Just tell Kermit 95 (or Windows
95) your new location, and all the numbers in the dialing directory will "just
work".

"Another great feature of K95 is that, unlike many computers or TELNET
services that require different codes for backspacing (many times you have to
assign the appropriate code to your PC's backspace), Kermit 95 allows you to
assign for each computer or host in your directory their own key settings,
specified on the Keyboard tab of its settings notebook..."